Plymouth, N.H. –The creator of one of the nation’s first eating disorder treatment education clinics has been named the 2013 Theo Kalikow Award winner by Plymouth State University at a March 28 awards ceremony honoring influential women in the Plymouth area. Dr. Margaret Burckes-Miller has been a professor of health education at Plymouth State University since 1987 and is coordinator of the Eating Disorders Institute, the only one its kind in the northeast. The Theo Kalikow award honors a faculty or staff member who has significantly contributed to the advancement of women’s issues and is presented annually by the PSU President’s Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW).

“To receive a Theo Kalikow Award is say you are strength and talent and good judgment and a wonderful degree of courage and honesty,” said PSU President Sara Jayne Steen.

“She has dedicated her life to women’s health issues,” Steen noted from nomination forms. “She is a true champion of women with eating disorders, female athletes, and women in male dominated professions. She teaches, leads by example, and takes the time to foster the same dedication in students-both undergraduate and graduate. She is patient and generous of spirit, resources, and time.”

Burckes-Miller has provided training and treatment strategies to hundreds of clinicians and educators over the past 25-years about eating and weight disorders, which are one of the nation’s leading public health issues. Locally, Burckes-Miller is active in eating disorder prevention and awareness in the Plymouth community.

The event also featured the PCSW honoring two other POWA awardees; Molly Donlan was named the Student POWA (Powerful Outstanding Women’s Advocate), which honors a Plymouth State University student who has significantly contributed to the advancement of women’s issues while a student at PSU. Donlan works at the SAGE Center and is a strong advocate for the LGBT community.

One of the people who nominated Donlan wrote, “She has been willing to go above and beyond to help us work through any issues we may have and find our inner strength as women. She has worked directly with many women with domestic violence of sexual assault problems (she works for a crisis line) and has been an inspiration to many of them.”

The POWA Community Member Award winner, Shelly Golden, is a 1993 graduate of then-Plymouth State College. She is the Mental Health Court Coordinator at Grafton County Mental Health Court and previously served as a staff member at Voices against Violence and as a coordinator of the Restorative Justice program at CADY.

“She has mentored our women’s studies minors, and she has supervised Plymouth State interns who are working to integrate activism with their course work,” Steen noted. “One person said, ‘She is open, kind, generous, and accessible, but at the root of her gentle nature is a powerful advocate for those who are victimized and hurting.’ ”

“She merges her feminism with a keen attention to class, mental health, race, and other related categories,” Steen added, “and helps the many organizations she has worked for to make connections across issues and adopt a holistic approach to solving community problems.”

In addition to the award ceremony, PSU Meteorology Professor Dr. Lourdes Aviles presented, “One of the Boys: Reflections, Experiences and Historical Tidbits on being a Woman in Male-dominated Science Fields,” describing some of her professional experiences within the scientific community and advocating support for more women in science fields. “We need to nurture strong, serious girls” to enter the science fields, she said.

In the News

PLYMOUTH — The Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance at Plymouth State University will host the 17th annual Contemporary Piano Festival at the Silver Center Saturday, March 7. The festival is designed to enhance the students’ and teachers’ exposure to music that was written in the past 100 years, according to festival director Professor Carleen […]

New state regulations and career opportunities prompt change PLYMOUTH — Accounting students now have an opportunity to put their careers on a fast track through Plymouth State University’s five-year accounting program. Students can earn both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in accounting through the five-year program, in addition to being well-prepared for the Certified […]

PLYMOUTH — Back in 1999, Plymouth State University Professor of Music Carleen Graff decided there was a need for students to learn about composers and music of 20th century. Since then, she has been holding a piano festival with competitions, as well as lectures focused on music written over the past 100 years. Plymouth State’s Department of […]